Nitrogen is an important nutrient for supporting development and growth of plant life. Urea and ammonia are two common nitrogen containing compounds that are widely used in the fertilizer industry, as well as being used as basic chemicals in the production of a variety of different chemical compounds.
Ammonia is a precursor to many nitrogen containing compounds, including urea, and therefore is an important chemical to the fertilizer industry. Because of its many uses, ammonia is one of the most highly produced inorganic compounds, typically enjoying worldwide production in excess of 100 million tons. Of the ammonia produced, approximately 80% or more of the ammonia is utilized for the fertilization of agricultural crops.
Urea (or carbamide) is an organic compound having the chemical formula NH2CONH2. More than 90% of the world production of urea is for use in fertilizers as urea has the highest nitrogen content of all commonly used solid nitrogenous fertilizers. Due to the wide use of urea in fertilizers as a convenient source of nitrogen, urea production is important. Additionally, urea is an important feedstock for the manufacturing of plastics, resins, glues, and pharmaceuticals, and is also important as a feed product for ruminant animals.
Generally, industrial plants producing urea and urea based fertilizers suffer from high feedstock costs, excessive energy requirements, and high emissions. Thus, a need exists for the development of new methods for the production of urea and nitrogen based fertilizers which reduce costs and emissions.